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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23439397">Vision Test</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Prodigal Son (TV 2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 12:27:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,060</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23439397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The glasses prompt.  Hope you enjoy.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Malcolm Bright/Dani Powell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Vision Test</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<em>Dani, has he responded</em>?” Gil asks not looking away from his view of the precinct entrance. Looking for Bright’s expensive Tom Ford suit among the crowd.</p><p>Had he looked, he would have seen her staring intently at her phone for just that.</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Dani’s voice waivers, and she clears her throat. She ensures the volume, and vibration are both on before placing her phone down in front of her. JT looks up at her with concern on his face as she drags her hands over her curls roughly.</p><p>There it is again. A nagging pain that begins in her chest, emanating to her limbs with each breath. Dani purposely avoids JT’s stare trying to calm herself with some controlled breathes. He probably forgot his phone, hit traffic. She would likely murder him if he was just being a flake.</p><p>Her phone lights up before buzzing against the table.</p><p>“<em>Sorry, I’m running late. I should be in shortly</em>.”</p><p>She wants to respond that he should <em>go f*ck himself</em>, but decides to respond with her usual <em>k</em>.</p><p>It takes a moment for her body to relax, and she wonders what the hell is wrong with her. Her mind flashes back to bomb. How gutted she felt thinking she would never see him again. That she would leave him there to die.</p><p>She relives the moment often. Gil pulling her <em>away</em> from him. She shakes the thought from her head. She swallows those feeling down as JT looks over at her wide eyed for some news.</p><p>“<em>Bright’s almost here</em>,” JT sighs.</p><p>“<em>Dani, you were on the clock until midnight studying these case files, do you want to begin?</em>” Gil smiles warmly at her shocked expression.</p><p>Dani is taken aback as she hasn’t begun a briefing since Malcolm started. Why would they want her NYPD Police Academy profiling when they had Quantico’s finest? She takes off her jacket, and let’s her lack of confidence slide off with it.</p><p>She hands folders to JT and Gil before approaching the evidence board. She stares at one of the victim’s mutilated bodies as she begins.</p><p>“<em>William Morton, 49, was found bludgeoned to death on his yacht-</em>”</p><p>Dani’s profile is interrupted by JT struggling not to laugh. Dani turns ready to tell him off, but she is silenced by the sight before her-</p><p><em>Malcolm Bright in glasses</em>.</p><p>Dani had recently come to conclusion Bright looked good in everything he wore, but not these. The lenses were comedically thick, and they magnified his big blue eyes into endless saucers. He looks like a confused old man, and she has to bite her lip not to snicker.</p><p>“<em>Guys, let’s be grown-ups here. I ripped three pairs of contacts this morning, and then dropped and stepped on my glasses. Let’s all be professional. Dani, you were saying?</em>”</p><p>“<em>So, if you stepped on your glasses, who’s glasses are you wearing</em>? <em>Did you mug an elderly blind man</em>?”</p><p>“<em>Dani, not what I meant. They are mine, from an awkward time in my young life. Please get back to your profile. You’re doing great.”</em></p><p>Malcolm gives her a thumbs up as JT shakes his head having once last chuckle.</p><p>Dani reigns it in, kind of pitying adolescent Malcolm in these awful glasses. She rubs her face roughly to focus.</p><p>She continues trying not to look in his direction. Even Gil is hiding behind his Yankee’s mug laughing at his expense. Malcolm speaks up a few times, and Dani doesn’t hear a word he is saying to her. She is sure it is probably important, but she can’t with his stupid face pretty face in those awful glasses. Hopefully he is okay with telling her everything again when he didn’t look like Mr. Magoo.</p><p>When she finishes, she makes a bee line for the break room.</p><p>Dani rummages in the cabinet for their dwindling stash of earl gray. When she finally grabs it, she hears the door swing open, and knows it’s him.</p><p>“<em>You want some tea Harry Potter</em>?”</p><p>“<em>Oh, very funny Hermione. You don’t understand how blind I am without these,” </em>Malcolm says taking them off. He places his hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“<em>Oh, I think I do. Cause..you are holding my right boob right now</em>.”</p><p>He lifts his hand apologetically.</p><p>“<em>I suspected as much, but when you didn’t flinch, I just went with it. Sorry, it’s either that or these</em>,” Malcolm puts his glasses back on smirking at her with magnified twinkles in his translucent eyes.</p><p>“<em>I’m getting used to them.”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Well don’t, my actual glasses will be ready soon. Contacts by tomorrow. I will then burn these in effigy.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Please don’t, I would miss them.”</em>
</p><p>Malcolm squints at her with mock offense.</p><p>
  <em>“You’d miss making fun of me in them?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“That too.”</em>
</p><p>Dani smirks at him, and he can’t help but stare at her. Which turns her smirk into a smile, and Malcolm doesn’t realize he has closed the distance between them until she stops smiling. She looks down at his hand. He is twisting one of her curls between his fingertips, and he is too close for her to think. He brushes some curls gently off her shoulder, and takes a step back from her.</p><p>Dani breaks the uncomfortable silence.</p><p>“<em>I was just going to make some</em>-”</p><p>“<em>Can you make me some tea? I look ridiculous, and JT is going to torture me today</em>,” he frowns leaning against a table.</p><p>Dani panics. He still looks good. This son of a bitch looks good in these awful glasses. The nerve. She focuses on the task at hand as she is well aware, he is completely focused on her. In those stupid, awful, adorable glasses--</p><p><strong>No</strong>. She had to stop those thoughts.</p><p>“<em>Sugar</em>?”</p><p>“<em>You know I do</em>,” he responds flippantly which gets under her already raw skin. She pins him with a hard stare before bringing his cup over.</p><p>“<em>Give it a few minutes</em>,” Just because he was pissing her off by being so adorable, didn’t mean she wanted him to hurt himself.</p><p>He smiles letting his fingers linger over hers as he takes the cup from her.   She frowns, trying not to read something into this it was not. Every time she puts herself out there, he pulls back. She can’t keep feeling rejected, so she pulls back this time. It feels empowering.</p><p>She leans against the opposite table blowing into her cup before looking up at him.</p><p>He stares back at her with a frown that makes her stomach ache.</p><p>“<em>Bright, what</em>?” Dani finally breaks the silence placing her cup on the table behind her. She crosses her arms over her chest.</p><p>“<em>Are you mad at me</em>?” He asks timidly, looking absolutely vulnerable behind those magnified lenses.</p><p>“<em>Do you know how worried I was this morning</em>?”</p><p>Malcolm approaches her, he reaches for her, but she shakes her head.</p><p>“<em>Make up your mind. Either we’re friends, or we’re something else. In the meantime, stop confusing me</em>.”</p><p>“<em>Dani</em>-”</p><p>Dani backs away from him.</p><p>“<em>You should have texted earlier, I was scared. I need some space Bright</em>,” Dani mumbles as she quickly leaves him.</p><p>_____________________________________</p><p>She manages to avoid Malcolm for the rest of her shift. She doesn’t know if he is giving her space, or it’s just dumb luck. When Gil shuts himself in his office with him, Dani let’s JT know she is leaving early. Well, early for her.</p><p>He gives her the third degree as she never leaves early, but she reminds him she has a life outside of work. He looks at her skeptically, but allows her to leave without further interrogation.</p><p>It is just intime as she hears Malcolm and Gil heading toward the door.</p><p>Malcolm is the first to notice her absence. He squints in the direction of her empty desk, his ancient prescription glasses clearly not doing the job.</p><p>“<em>Dani left</em>?”</p><p>“<em>You just missed her Pointdexter.”</em></p><p>
  <em>“Pointdexter? That’s the best you could come up with? I am truly disappointed in you.”</em>
</p><p><em>“Yeah, me too,” </em>JT frowns.</p><p>______________________________________</p><p>Dani nurses a glass of wine as her phone continues to ping and buzz on her coffee table. She didn’t usually drink, but she needed to relax. She needed something to take the edge off.</p><p>The edge off the gruesome case, Bright’s endless mixed signals. She wish he’d just give her some space so she could wake up from whatever this was. Her phone pings.</p><p>She lazily leans forward barely reading the text preview to make sure he wasn’t in mortal danger or anything. She sees, “<em>Let’s talk</em>,” and then a second later, “<em>Dani, I’m here</em>.”</p><p><em>Fucking Bright</em>.</p><p>She hears her apartment’s buzzer, and ignores it flipping through stations on a barely audible tv.</p><p>She was not concerned. He had never been to her place before, and had no idea which apartment was hers. She was sick of him confusing the hell out of her. Let him wait.</p><p><em>A knock</em>-</p><p>“<em>Dani? Can we just talk?</em>”</p><p>Dani shuts the tv, trying to sit as quietly as possible.</p><p>“<em>Dani, I know you’re awake, you can’t sleep with the TV on. You just turned it off. I’m sorry I looked at your drivers license. In hindsight, a bit stalkery. Can I come in?”</em></p><p>Dani finishes the rest of her drink heading toward the door. She reaches for the lock, but stops herself. She drums her fingers against the door before whispering.</p><p>“<em>Say what you came to say through the door. I’d whisper if I were you, cause if you wake my neighbor, he’ll stab you with a butcher knife. How did you even get in here?”</em></p><p>
  <em>“It was easy, I just rang all the bells and said ‘Postmates,’ it was actually very easy to get in. You should really tell your landlord-”</em>
</p><p><em>“Bright,” </em>Dani deadpans.</p><p>Malcolm smiles at the thought of her face. He leans against the door.</p><p>“<em>But we can talk about that later. I’m sorry Dani.”</em></p><p><em>“About what?” </em>Dani asks twisting the curl he held earlier. So glad he can’t see her. Analyze her. Profile her.</p><p>
  <em>“For not texting you. Its been so long since I’ve had anyone that cares. It’s always just been Mom, Ainsley, and Gil in my life. I don’t know why you care.”</em>
</p><p>She is silent for a moment, his words settling uncomfortably in her stomach.</p><p>
  <em>“Malcolm I only have Gil and the job. I care about you. We’re friends.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“JT and I are friends. Dani, I really don’t know what I was going to say to you that day, it wasn’t about the profile. When I saw how scared you were it became so real. I wanted to tell you how I feel-”</em>
</p><p>Dani quickly unlocks the door, Malcolm almost falling inside when she opens it.</p><p>She looks at him startled, but manages to maintain her composure.</p><p>“<em>Are those your glasses?” </em>Dani asks a bit dizzy. His designer frames making him look like a male model, and she decides to take them off his face.</p><p>“<em>Dani as demonstrated by my coping a feel earlier, I need those glasses,” </em>he reaches for them, but she is quicker than him and leads him to her couch.</p><p>“<em>Sit. I want you to tell me how you feel. If you do it in those glasses I don’t know if I can listen to you cause of your face. (she motions her hand over his face, and he nods with a tiny smirk) Now speak or I’m kicking you out to get knifed.”</em></p><p>Malcolm feels around for her hands, and she rolls her eyes guiding him. He smiles squinting down at their hands, threading their fingers.</p><p>“<em>Dani Powell</em>?”</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>?”</p><p>“<em>I can’t stop picturing you in that dress, and all I wanted to do was take it off of you. Can I have my glasses back?”</em></p><p>Dani smiles shaking her head no.</p><p><em>“What were you going to say to me that day?” </em>she persists.</p><p>“<em>I almost said I love you, but that’s crazy, right? I mean, I’m about to die, and I lay that-”</em></p><p>Before he can finish her lips are on his silencing him into a deep groan. His lack of sight did not affect his hands finding her face, the slope of her neck.</p><p>Malcolm pulls away catching his breath before speaking.</p><p>“<em>You know I’m a fucking mess right</em>?”</p><p>“<em>Uh huh</em>.”</p><p>Dani kisses him deeply letting him know that she loves all of him.  Even the messy parts.</p>
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